My inspiration for this record of my days:

“The biggest mistake I made [as a parent] is the one that most of us make. . . . I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of [my three children] sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages six, four, and one. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less” -Anna Quindlen

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

I am so glad I have daughters. Of course I adore my boys too, but I am really grateful for these two wonderful girls of mine.

Today was a less-than-ideal day. I was gone a lot, and the boys spent ridiculous amounts of time being entertained by TV and video games. Sometimes that's just how things go, and I know it won't kill them to have days like that, but it still really bothers me.

After dinner I headed out to run some more errands, and asked Savannah to babysit without using any media. When I came home they were playing hide-and seek. They were cuddling under the blankets and giggling, and my heart just swelled up with happiness. Even though it couldn't come from me, I knew my little ones were feeling loved and happy.

During family scriptures, I was pretty drained, and it felt like all I could do to go through the motions of the bedtime routine. Luckily my girls were there. Savannah had Simon on her lap, and Becca held Eli. They cuddled them, helped them read their verses, and whispered things that made them laugh when they should have been reverent. Again, my heart wanted to overflow.

These beautiful daughters. This kind of interaction comes naturally to them. There is something so warm and nurturing about both of them. They know how to love children and make them feel important and valued, without having to be told.

I picture them in a few short years with babies of their own. Those lucky children! These girls will be the kind of wise and caring mothers that the world needs. But for now they get to love on my babies, and their brothers will always remember feeling special when they were with their big sisters.

Friday, July 11, 2014

Recently I posted a picture of what summer looks like around here. It was happy children eating homemade popsicles on a hammock in the shade.

Turns out that is nothing like summer around here. Summer looks like me getting up with Eli at 5:00 am and trying to pacify him with my iPad for at least an hour. It looks like me staying up way past my bedtime with teenagers who push FIRMLY against my attempts to encourage order and productivity.

I usually start off with a cheerful morning routine for the little ones, but we can only take so many hours together indoors before summer starts to look like TV, video games or fist fights.

I tell you all of this to explain, or maybe rationalize, my lack of thoughtful blog posts.

So I have decided to take a different approach to blogging for now. Whenever I have a moment or a coherent thought that I would like to remember, I will stop by the computer (if I can pry a child away from the screen) to post a "status update." You know... like on Facebook. It's perfectly acceptable there to just post a one line thought. I have no interest in posting my random thoughts for the social media world to read, but I think it will be nice to have them collected here. For posterity.

And so here you go. Status update #1

Tonight Eli woke up and came out of his bed to tell Savannah that there was a scary bunny rabbit on his pillow that kept biting him. When she walked him back to his room he was surprised but happy to find that it was gone.